How to reduce maintenance stress

There are many solutions available to help an aviation business manage the stresses attached to operating and maintaining a fleet.

Here we are going to look at some of the best ways an airline or maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) provider can implement change within the hangar and the cockpit to reduce stress and improve operational efficiency.

Introduce handheld devices

By introducing handheld devices such as Electronic Flight Bags (EFB) and tablets into the cockpit and hangar, a company can access flight records, tech logs, stock information and other important data with a few clicks.

Due to fleet and maintenance operations being particularly time sensitive, using handheld devices can prove extremely beneficial, thanks to them facilitating quicker turnaround times by delivering key information on demand.

For example, an engineer can access technical date and carry out troubleshooting via a tablet, thus reducing downtime. While a crew members are able to send data from air to ground fairly easily, to giving engineers who are working in the hangar as much time as possible to prepare for an unscheduled maintenance event.

Plus, tools like Rusada’s ‘Envision’ MRO software can be accessed via handheld devices, to give an end-user a clear overview of company information including flight data and maintenance records, which they can manage and update (where appropriate).

Ensure all areas of a business are talking to each other

Good communication between all departments is key for a business to succeed. By ensuring that all areas of a business are talking to each other, a company can obtain a complete overview of all operations.

While there are still some hurdles to overcome, thanks to a combination of paper documents and digital files still being used within the industry, there are solutions available out there to help aviation organisations manage all aspects of their business, from one central network thus improving communication.

The Envision platform offers its ‘Configuration & Resource Manager’ module to customers, which acts as a central brain, and helps to control and manage all the key business data that is needed to successfully operate.

The module can automate processes and workflow involved in many areas, including engineering, maintenance and flight operations.

In addition to the core module within Envision, there is platform-wide integration between all of the software’s seven comprehensive modules; by allowing the modules to ‘talk’ openly to each other in real-time, an end-user can benefit from having accurate data on fleet health, employee qualifications, staff shifts and upcoming maintenance work at their fingertips, consequently relieving stress.

Improve the management and control of materials

Finding a part during an aircraft on ground (AOG) situation can be a timely and stressful task, therefore having the right tools to hand to help locate a part as quickly as possible is crucial.

A grounded aircraft is of no use to an airline, as it can cost it thousands of pounds while sitting on the tarmac. Thus having an effective materials management procedure firmly in place can help reduce lead times and AOG events.

Envision’s ‘Materials’ Manager’ module can provide an aviation company with what it needs to manage all aspects of material and purchase management.

The Materials Manager can not only deliver an immediate company-wide listing and alert for AOG events and loan items, but it can also help a business on a far greater scale.

Standard transactions for requested parts could be started via the module really easily, as can automatic processes that enable a business to streamline how it locates parts and manages stock control, on a far larger scale (across multi-base and multi-warehouse spares management, for example).

Indeed, adopting leaner processes when it comes to locating parts is a priceless strategy and this particular module provides a business with what it needs to manage parts and stock.

Certainty, tracking all the transactions for aviation standard spare via the Materials Manager can help to increase an MRO or airline’s workshop efficiency.

Plus, end-users will also benefit from centralised part number control that allows them to manage configuration, interchangeability and requisition transaction automation, in order to speed up request processing while retaining usage rules and any history associated to a part.

Part numbers can also be imported from price lists/catalogues and integrated with systems like SAP to further improve part number control.

Needless to say, Envision’s extensive suite of stock management tools provides a company with on demand solutions that can help take some of the stress out of AOG situations.

Plan and be prepared

While planning effectively and being prepared has already been touched upon, when we discussed how using Materials Manager can help a company to better ‘prepare’ for AOG situations, another more obvious, but still highly beneficial, stress-busting tip is to build work/job packs and use these within maintenance operations.

Work pack creation is one solution that can definitely reduce maintenance stress, especially in extremely time-sensitive events.

This is why Rusada gives its customers the tools that are needed to generate work packs based on forecasted maintenance scenarios, through the ‘Fleet Manager’ module.

In addition, Envision’s Maintenance Manager allows a company to plan and carry out maintenance visits, using information stored in the Configuration & Resource Manager module, so that it can plan work cost-effectively and evaluate how effective that planned work has been.

If you have any tips for relieving maintenance stress please feel free to share these with Rusada and help the wider community.